Partners
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), with approximately 19,000 students, is one of Israel's largest research universities. It comprises five faculties (Natural, Engineering, and Health Sciences, and Humanities and Social Sciences, and Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management), the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, and the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies. The university's main campus, the Marcus Family Campus, and two smaller campuses are situated in Beer-Sheva, and it also has campuses in Eilat and in Sede Boqer.
The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at BGU was established in 1971 and it offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in a wide range of subjects that encompass practical and theoretical aspects of electrical and computer engineering. Current student enrollment numbers about 800 undergraduate students pursuing B.Sc. degrees and 200 graduate students in the MSc. and Ph.D. tracks. The Department is equipped with enhanced laboratory, computer, teaching, and research facilities.
BGU has a wide range of activities concerning quantum technology. With 50 faculty in its quantum science and technology center, and 21 core faculty (from 8 departments, many of which are from the faculty of engineering), BGU's expertise ranges from deep theoretical issues (see above cover paper), through practical theory, and all the way to cutting edge experiments.
The unique strength of our university is in the unusual integration between natural sciences and engineering. This gives rise to novel practical projects with a short transition time from basic scientific ideas, through engineering development and all the way to industrial prototypes. Especially worth noting is the fact that BGU has already delivered several working quantum technology prototypes to the Israeli industry!
In addition, BGU is the only university in Israel in which there exists a fabrication facility with expertise in the fabrication of atom chips, a device intended to miniaturize quantum technology into practical robust devices, with small dimensions, low power consumption, portability, and readiness for mass production. This BGU expertise is evident from the many requests received from labs around the world to receive BGU atom chips. Such chips have already been delivered to numerous countries, for projects including inertial navigation systems, quantum computing, magnetic sensing, and so on. The unique fabrication facility together with the close ties between science and engineering, as well as the intensive joint work with industry, place BGU as a prime institute for quantum technology.
Another advantage concerns the specific topic of quantum communications. BGU has a very strong center for cyber security (at BGU and in the adjacent hi-tech park, including a center opened by Deutsche Telekom). As one of the hardest topics of quantum communication is the security verification, BGU has the proper expertise to reliably advance this field. We also note that papers reporting the experimental realization of quantum communications systems have already been published by BGU 10 years ago.
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The Medical University of Vienna is the leading academic medical research institution in Austria. The General Hospital Vienna houses the university hospitals, including oncology, surgery, gynecology, and radiology departments. Here, more than 1000 breast cancer patients are diagnosed and treated each year.
The Medical University of Vienna (MUV) is not only the largest medical organization in Austria, it is also one of the most important top-level research institutions in Europe, and provides Europe's largest hospital, the AKH in Vienna, with all of its medical staff. During its long history and tradition, which covers 640 years, MUV has developed into a cutting-edge research institution that covers an area of 40,000 m². It employs 5,000 people, which includes 1,800 researchers, 1,600 of whom are medical doctors. Each year, 100,000 patients are treated as inpatients in 31 university clinics, 48,000 operations are conducted, and 605,000 outpatients receive initial treatment in the day-clinics.
In its structuring and alignment, MUV relies on the "triple track" strategy. Research, education,
and patient care represent the three cornerstones of the university's system. This enables medical science to respond flexibly to the continually changing demands of the state and society. In the process, maintenance of health, as well as therapy, abatement of symptoms, and prevention of diseases, stand in the foreground. Internationally competitive in medical research and in the development of innovative solutions to issues relevant to society, such as healthcare or age pyramids, the MUV continues to pursue excellence in these arenas. In addition, the disciplines of ethics, medical law, care-related research, palliative medicine, and health economics are of central importance. MUV is Austria's largest medical training center. Under the guidance of 1,000 teachers, approximately8,000 students are currently completing their studies in human medicine and dentistry. The attractive spectrum of studies, which includes doctoral and PhD programs, renders MUV one of the most important centers for postgraduate training and the promotion of young researchers in the international vocational training market. Special university training courses, such as tumor biology, care management, medical physics, and toxicology, complement the comprehensive teaching program."interdisciplinarynarity" and "Translational Research" are key phrases that are at the core of MUV's tasks. Practically all organizational units are involved in medical science and medical diagnostic-related research.
Research Cluster
» Allergy/Immunology/Infectious Disease Cluster (AIIC)
» Cancer Research/Oncology
» Medical Neuroscience Cluster (MNC)
» Cardiovascular Cluster (CVC)
» Medical Imaging Cluster (MIC)
The innovative translational research approach is an integral element of MUV's development
plan; consequently, considerable opportunities are available to its patients. Through the unique interlinking of fundamental research with clinical applications, patients benefit directly from the results of clinical studies. A further plus for patients is the implementation of the interdisciplinary approach in the core area: research. The cooperation of all the doctors concerned with treatment and a grouping together of medical skills represent a decisive factor for success, particularly in relation to the care of cancer patients. MUV works on innovative research concepts for national and international researchers with the objective of establishing an international competence center in the spirit of a "center of excellence."Beyond this, MUV also intends to become a leading healthcare player in the future. In theprocess, extraordinary support measures for highly talented researchers, as well as performance-related career models for doctors, as well as participation in international networks and extra-university cooperation ventures, will play a central role. In order to secure additional sources of funding for future research activities, MUV intends to support patenting and the commercial utilization of research results (the so-called "academic private partnership").
Significant infrastructure
The Medical University of Vienna (MUV) is one of the largest medical research institutions in Central Europe. At the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy /Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging, more than 650 primary breast cancers are diagnosed annually. The Department is a member of the Cancer Care Center and conducts the work-up of more than 15,000 breast cases annually. The research team has worked together for almost eight years to develop improved methods for the detection and management of breast cancer. The research team includes experienced radiologists, medical physicists, and a clinical research coordinator. The group is internationally recognized for its work on anatomic, molecular, and functional imaging of breast cancer, for improved diagnosis and treatment.
The examinations will be conducted at the Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging and Nuclear Medicine at the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy. The Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging is equipped with state-of-the art breast imaging equipment, i.e., two full-field digital mammography units with tomosynthesis capabilities, one research contrast-enhanced digital mammography unit, and several high-resolution ultrasound units. In addition, there are several low-, high-field and ultra-high field MR units (1.5, 3, and 7 Tesla) available. The Division serves as a screening, as well as an assessment center, for the national screening program and leads the multimodality early detection program for high-risk patients with hereditary breast cancer. The Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging is involved in several national and international projects (HYPMED, VIAKLIK, WWTF, FWF KLIF, OeNB Jubiäumsfondsprojekte, Fonds der Stadt Wien).
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of Germany's top universities and is characterized by a unique profile with its core domains natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, and medicine. The institutional strategy is focused on strengthening the excellence of disciplinary core competences in research, teaching and learning, but is also targeted towards the promotion of groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research. TUM is committed toward the major challenges facing society in the 21st century in areas such as energy, climate, and environment, natural resources, health and nutrition, communication and information, mobility, and infrastructure. Besides research and teaching, TUM inspires and pro-actively empowers its students, academics, and alumni to think and act entrepreneurially. It initiates growth oriented start-ups and assists its entrepreneurs in building new companies (TUM Entrepreneurship).
TUM enters CANCER SCAN with outstanding engineering strengths applied to clinical translation as also manifested by the formation of the new interdisciplinary INNOVATION center TRANSLATUM, which is dedicated to bring engineering excellence to medicine. TUM provides world-leading research expertise and infrastructure to CANCER SCAN, in particular in the fields of medical imaging/optoacoustics and breast cancer research and clinical practice.
Key Persons involved in the project
Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos (M), Chair for Biological Imaging at the Technische Universität München and Director of the Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging (IBMI) at Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), is a bio-engineer who focuses on the development of new methods and devices for biological and medical imaging. He has studied Electrical Engineering (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Bioengineering (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA) and was assistant professor at Harvard University prior to his Munich appointment. His research aims in the non-invasive investigation of physiological and molecular processes in tissues. The result will be the development of novel, non-invasive and highly efficient methods for clinical diagnosis and monitoring. He is an author of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications with more than 13,000 citations, has an h-index of 57, and has received many awards including the 2012 Gottfried Leibniz Prize, Germany's most prestigious science award. He is the editor of the journal of PHOTOACOUSTICS and actively makes significant contributions to the scientific community through conference chairing and editor tasks.
Rome's Quantum Information Lab - QIL, led by Fabio Sciarrino, is based at the Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome and is part of the quantum optics group: www.quantumlab.it. The quantum optics group of the Sapienza Università di Roma has pioneered the use of photonics for quantum information. The group has recently consolidated its leadership position by introducing, in team with CNR, the use of fs-written waveguides for quantum photonics, and by carrying out important experimental realisations of quantum simulations, remarkably the Anderson localisation of multiphoton quantum states. It has an average of 15-20 members, including 2 technicians (Sandro Giacomini and Giorgio Milani), 1 Lecturer (Nicolò Spangolo), 1 postdoc (Fulvio Flamni), 6 PhD students among which 2 women (Iris Agresti, Taira Giordani, Gonzalo Carvacho, Adil Syed and Niko Viggianiello) and typically 6-8 Master thesis students per year. Fabio Sciarrino teaches the Quantum Information course for the Master level Degree in Physics, typically attended by 20-30 students.
Main task:
The SAP team, based at the Department of Physics, is in charge of several strands of WP5 and WP6. Their main task will be twofold: to construct a system for generating entangled photon pairs with parametric down conversion to be integrated into the transmission system, and to construct and carry out a scheme for synchronization of the detected photons which will then be integrated into the detection system.. The research will be carried out in tight synergy with BGU and TUM with strong theoretical support provided by all CANCER SCAN partners. In WP5 and 6, SAP will transfer know-how on quantum information processing to BGU.
Key Persons involved in the project
Prof. Fabio Sciarrino is Associate professor in the Department of Physics. Graduated in Physics in 2000 at the University of Naples "Federico II". He received his PhD in 2004 with a thesis in experimental quantum optics, with contributions on quantum teleportation and cloning. He has received several awards, including Premio Sapio Junior per la Ricerca Italiana, the Medal "Le Scienze in Fisica" with the "Medal of the Presidency of the Republic », Award Sapienza Ricerca. He is the author of more than 100 publications in international journals (among which 12 pubblications on Nature journals) and about 100 invited presentations at national and international conferences. Since 2009, Fabio Sciarrino has obtained fundings for the University of Roma “La Sapienza" as principal investigator for a total amount of more than 3.200.000 euros (approx. 2.800.000 from Europe and 400.000 from Italy). In 2010 he won the project HYTEQ (Hybrid Technologies for Quantum Information Processing) funded by FIRB - Future in Research for young Italian researchers. He was awarded an ERC grant Starting Grant-Consolidator 3D-QUEST and ERC Proof of Concept project 3D-COUNT in 2015 (3D-Integrated single photon detector). He is the european coordinator of the project Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN): PICQUE (Photonic Integrated Compound Quantum Encoding) started September 2013 (www.picque.eu). He is the european coordinator of the project FET(Future and Emerging Technologies): QUCHIP (Quantum Simulation on a Photonic Chip) starting in March 2015. He has the lecture in Quantum Information and Computation at the University "La Sapienza". He is author of circa 150 publications in peer-reviewed international scientific journals, 1 Nature, 5 Nature Photonics, 6 Nature Communications, 1 Nature Physics, 2 Science Advances, 2 Light Science & Applications, 20 Physical Review Letters, including 2 Physical Review X, 1 Review of Modern Physics, gathering circa 2800 citations according to the Web-of-Science (WoS) (Circa 4200 according to Google Scholar), with H-index = 28 in WoS (= 35 in Google Scholar).